India’s tiger count rises to 1,706

New Delhi: There are 1,706 tigers in India today – 295 more than in the last count in 2006 – says the latest tiger census released Monday.

The census was released at the March 28-30 International Tiger Conference hosted by Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh.

The census indicates that the Shivalik Gangetic plains has 353 tigers, central India and Eastern Ghats have 601 tigers, Western Ghats 534, the northeast hills and Brahmaputra floodplains 148 and the Sunderbans 70.

The conference is a follow-up to the St. Petersburg meet held last year in Russia. It will discuss challenges, plans and priorities for implementing the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP), which aims to double the wild tiger population by 2022.

It is being organised in collaboration with the Global Tiger Forum (GTF), an inter-governmental body that also has membership of the national and international NGOs and the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiative (GTI).

Besides the census report, a film on India’s 30 years since the launch of Project Tiger will be released at the conference.

The last census in 2006 had shown a sharp fall in tiger population, at 1,411 tigers in the wild. India was home to about 3,000 tigers around two decades ago.